Not just gameplay wise. It’s an important thematic distinction too.
It shouldn’t because it would be extremely limiting to Hunters. In PvP it would make the class unviable. In PvE it would screw us in any melee stack situations which are plentiful.
It’s something that made sense in an era where PvE was easier and classes were a lot more limited in PvP.
It’s not, though. Shields have been a selective, specialised part of the Warrior identity since the start.
Wing Clip, like Busting Shot, is a melee ability relevant to a ranged spec because it counters other melee. It’s not a melee playstyle.
If we started with Raptor Strike instead you might have a point, but we don’t.
Here’s a thought experiment; what would it look like if they made a class foundation, and then made a spec that goes to extreme lengths to distance itself and deviate from that?
That’s a symptom of their neglect of ranged weapon specs. They probably don’t have a single developer that likes the archetype, hence why they made Survival melee and why MM is always stagnant with minimal creativity.
Rememebr that every time you and the SV channel bemoan how Hunters of ten get forgotten. SV being melee has the same root cause. If they cared about Hunters and their identity, SV would never have been melee.
Blizzard themselves said they were aiming at new players and rerolls. Sure, some Hunters are going to like it, but as can be seen from the representation: only some.
A lot of the support SV gets online comes from people like this:
Detests the class and the people that play it, avoids it all the time, loves the idea of melee Hunter and vehemently defends it.